The Portland daily press., 1887-10-27
CONCERNING BOOKS.
BY Z. cAvAzzA.

1t is perhaps, not unnatural, that Mr..
Howells, realist by theory, practice and pro-
fession, should do his very best work when
he writes Of Italy, the land Of art aud ro-
nance. AS bright woman sremarked In
conversation the other day, "Mr. HOwells Is
not born romantic, he rarely achieves 70
nance, unless romance be thrust upon him."
One must admit that in such case he
makes most charming virtue Of necessity
and the result is brilliant, sympathetic, II
not especially profound.
His new volumes of essays, named The
Modern Italian Poets, has assumed title
somewhat too comprehensive to-day, al
though appropriate to the time. twenty years
since, when the material for these biographi-
cal sketches was collected. Since 1870, the
date of termination Of the period portrayed
by Mr.. Howells, new, distinct generation
of poets is arisen in Italy-a brilliant, schol-
arly, experimental group to which he
merely refers in a phrase Of his preface
and another Of his conclusion. OF these the
foremost-perhaps Mr.. Howells generalizes
a little too much in calling him the represen-
tatiye-is Giosue Carducei. 1t would not be
difficult however, to name various poets Of
the present school who, resembling Carducci
in direction, are individual in their art.
The period which Mr.. Howells has selected
for portrayal is that great preparatory CEN
tury Of ardent verse and action which re-
suited in Italian liberty. From the time Of
its earliest consciousness, the literature Of
Italy has been the handmade Of its history.
Ennobled by Dante for the loftiest uses Of
patriotism, it gradually became the toy Of
the exquisite artists Of the Renaissance peri
cd; and the petty tyrants who ruled and raw
aged Italy, encouraged letters, together with
the other arts, as a means to keep mems
minds from the problems Of their country.
The floods of revolution destroyed the gard
ems of this enchanted land Of art, and
drowned its songs. The first tentative notes
Of new race Of singers began to be heard;
and these men had more or less clearly be-
fore their minds the purpose Of the liberia
tion Of Italy.
The widest caprices Of the recent esthetes,
whose heads turned with the sunfower.
"whose head is turned with the sum-" lose
by comparison with the Arcadian craze that
made laughable the Italian society of the
18th century. The idyls Of Theocritus were
carefully studied as manuals Of behavior.
Every gentleman was shepherd and every
lady a shepherdess; these nymphs and
swains sighed and languished and composed
madrigals, and finally formed fantastic aca-
denies, with farfetched names, for the ad-
vancement Of what they were pleased to call
literature. Such was the feeble folly that
ended the superb artistic development Of the
Renaissance.
Giuseppe Parini is the first Of the poets
whom Mr.. Howells groups in his sketch Of
the century of reform. This satirist -four
ished in Milan, and wrote poem called the
Day, which in elegant mock-heroic style, de-
scribes the doings Of young man Of fashion.
Such state Of society could neither last nor
lead to good, unless reformed altogether.
Yet at this distance Of time, one cannot but
be amused at the picture of its manners.
Next appears the saturnine and furious Wit
torio Alferi, whose great tragedies stand
among the masterpieces of Italian literature.
hater Of kings and lover Of the severe
Greek art Of the drama. Monti, the faeile
singer of success, yet not ignoble; Ugo Fos-
colo, the author Of the large meditation Of
1 Sepolcri, and pioneer Of the re-
search of the political allegories of the
Divina Commedia, are included In the sec
ondary grouping which Mr.. Howells terms
the classical. In Foscolo however, he finds
also quality Of romanticism.
The romantic period which ensued in Ital-
ian literature acknowledged Ossian's poems
% ~ - faru fpA A
and more vivid life began to pervade prose
and verse. 1t is to this time that we owe
Manzoni's Promessi Sposi-a story Of the
utmost tenderness and nobility, which has
had incalculable influence upon Italians.
The same qualities inspired his tragedy the
Conte di CGrmdgnola. and appear in the ode
to Napoleon, the Fifth of May.
The School Of Resignation is the term ap-
piled to the group Of poets Of which Silvio
Pellieo and Tommaso Grassi were masters.
OF the former, Mr.. Howells has to say that
his patience was his best poem; and con-
fesses that he cares little to read anything Of
Grassi's except that lovely lyric, the Pilgrim
Siodllor; though 1t is easy, one would think,
to enjoy the graceful sirUenteSi that occur in
the prose romance Of Grassi, MdrcO Viscont.
LuigiCarrer had something Of Gothic quality 4;
Berehet sang passionate protests against the
Austrians, and Giambalttista Nicollini taught
political ethics in his tragedies. Leopard
celebrated Death, in deploring the evils Of
life, with shadowy beauty of expression Of
which Mr.. Howells's healthier but not essen
TALLY poetic mind seems to miss the charm.
He finds Giusti's force and brilliance more
sympathetic; and the artistic realiAm Of the
StOrreM Of francesca dell '0ngaro, he
rightly admires as expressing ''the spirit OF a
race at once the most intellectual and most
emotional in the world"-to quote Mr.. How
ells's generous phrase. Pratt, born near the
German boundary, wrote poems with the
ghostly personages dear to the Teuton bal
ladists; Aleardo Aleardi with irridescent
brilliance Of detail, created his Primal Hlsto-
ries. a poem which arches over the old cen.
turies like rainbow Of verse. Giulio Car
cano sung of the family, as the source Of
patriotism; Fusinato employed satire as his
weapon, occasionally striking serious note
Mercantini relied upon the dramatic force Of
his direct and simple ballads. With these
poets concludes the series Of biographical
sketches.
Mr.. Howells's comment Is interesting, at
tractive, and often exceedingly sympathetic
His work does not appear to be the result Of
exhaustive knowledge and large grasp o.
Italian history, art and letters. such as sup
ports the brilliant and nObly proportional
| writings of Mr.. John Addington Symonds
| And the American mind of Mr.. Howells oc
| casionally refuses to Latinize itself; to deny
for the time his essentially American TEN
per, and the genial, sub-humorous way O
looking at older institutions which thi
| young and positive civilization sometime
permits to itself. But the leader of Ameri
can realism believes in the reality of patriot
ism, Of goodness, of nobility, and is quick t,
recognize it. His essays deserve mucl
| praise as an honest and efficient attempt Il
| give to American readers a notion of the lit
erature of the formative period Of free Italy
Mr.. Howells's translations Of verse are ex
tremely conscientious and close, with no at
tempt to display himself. Here and ther
occurs mistransation, but as a whole tn
verse is fairly representative Of the though
of the original. The versions are not al
ways poetic, and ere sometimes stiff an,
harsh. However, this need not trouble MI
Howells, who has already spread upon tn
records OF his pleasant editorial study hi
/ diohalfaf in fha F,,tura 81 ,.,aAu..